June 29, 191 1] 



NATURE 



593 



Mr. C. B. Kloss and other naturalists, on local mammals 

 and birds. 



We have to acknowledge the receipt of the report of the 

 Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago, for 1910, in 

 which it is stated that a steady development of that 

 institution is in progress, with a continued increase of its 

 utility as an educating centre. A marked extension took 

 place during the year in the anthropological department. 

 The report contains several illustrations, among- which 

 attention may be directed to a photograph of a group of 

 three gorillas recently added to the exhibition series. 



Poultry-breeders should be interested in an article on 

 the inheritance of fecundity in domesticated fowls, con- 

 tributed by Dr. Raymond Pearl to the June number of 

 The American Naturalist. The article is so full of tech- 

 nicalities that it is difficult to give a summary of the 

 conclusions intelligible to the ordinary reader. The author 

 is however, of opinion that different degrees of fecundity 

 are inherited by fowls, although it is extremely difficult, if 

 not impossible, to isolate and develop a strain with great 

 egg-laying capacity. It is further stated that the inherit- 

 ance is probably in complete " accord with Johannsen's 

 concept of genotypes." It may be added that the 

 "genotype," or "pure line theory," is discussed in a 

 second article in the same issue by Dr. J. A. Harris, who 

 is disposed to doubt its validity. 



Vol. xiii. of the Rapports et Proces-Verbaux of the 

 International Council for the Exploration of the Sea con- 

 tains the administrative report of the eighth year (igoq— 10) 

 of the international cooperation and the proceedings of the 

 ninth meeting of the council, which viras held in Copen- 

 hagen in September, 1910. Special interest attaches to the 

 presence at this meeting as guests of the Deputy- 

 Commissioner of Fisheries for the United States of 

 America, Dr. Hugh M. Smith, and the Inspector-General 

 of Fisheries for France, M. Fabre Domergue. It would 

 be of the very greatest value to the success of the investi- 

 gations if the area to be explored could be extended to the 

 waters of the North Atlantic, with the cooperation of the 

 French and American Governinents. The reports, which 

 are appended to the proceedings of the meeting, are of 

 considerable importance, although the general report on 

 plaice fisheries, which it is hoped will bring to a head 

 much of the most important work which has been carried 

 out in connection with the investigations, is not yet avail- 

 able. Dr. Hoek gives a summary account of the quanti- 

 tative distribution of the eggs and larv,-B of the gadoids in 

 the North Sea, and Prof. D'Arcy Thompson furnishes a 

 second report on the later stages of these fishes. The flat 

 fishes are similarly treated by Dr. Ehrenbaum and Dr. 

 A. T. Masterman. 



The Rev. Hilderic Friend has reported to the director 

 of Kew Gardens the discovery of two new annelids in 

 earth received from Peru. The first is an Enchytraiid, 

 Fridericia peruviana, Friend, the other being a new species 

 of Trigaster. It differs from the known species in its small 

 dimensions, as well as in the position of the gizzards, the 

 hearts, and the intestine, and is named Trigaster ryiinima, 

 Friend. This worm has the gizzards in segments 9, 10, 11, 

 the principal hearts are in 12-15, and the intestine begins 

 in 19, while the length is 15 mm., as compared with 

 250 mm. in Trigaster lankesteri, Benham. 



In Nature of May 11 (p. 356) attention was directed 

 to the proposal of the Bombay Natural History .Society 

 to start an investigation into the mammals of British 

 India. Mr. N. Annandale writes from Calcutta to point 

 out that a real zoological survey, in which the more 

 obscure groups of animals (which have no less scientific 



NO. 2174, VOL. 86] 



value than the mammals) were included, would cost a 

 great deal more than 2000Z., for which an appeal was 

 made, although preliminary work has been done as regards 

 certain groups. He refers to Colonel .Mcock's recent 

 memoir on the fresh-water crabs, which it is hoped will 

 be followed shortly by others on different groups of 

 terrestrial and aquatic organisms. 



In The Journal of Economic Biology (vol. vi., No. 2) 

 Mr. E. E. Green presents an enumeration of several species 

 of Coccida;, with diagnoses of those new to science, collected 

 on rubber plants in Ceylon. Lecanium viride was the 

 most important found on Hevea brasiliensis, but as it 

 occurred chiefly on young trees it was amenable to treat- 

 ment by spraying. A new species, Inglisia castilloae, was 

 perhaps the most dangerous, as it spread from the Castilloa 

 to tea shrubs in the vicinity, but it did not attack the 

 closely adjacent Hevea trees. Another of the new species 

 is a lac insect that spread thickly on a Landolphia vine. 

 A second item of interest to entomologists is supplied by 

 the article in which Mr. H. Maxwell-Lefroy offers advice 

 on the training of British entomologists, with special 

 reference to students prepared to take service in British 

 colonies or possessions. He insists particularly on the 

 desirability of infusing a more " economic " character into 

 the student's training. 



The interesting account of his botanical expedition to 

 Lower Siam communicated by Mr. H. \. Ridley is con- 

 tinued in The Gardener's Chronicle (June 17 and 24). 

 Many new or remarkable plants were collected near 

 Kanga, in the province of Perils. Three species of Holar- 

 rhena, small apocynaceous shrubs, a Dischidia, and a 

 dwarf Lastraea are new to science ; Cycas siamensis, 

 characterised by its curved white stems, and a swollen- 

 stemmed balsam, Impatiens mirabilis, were particularly 

 striking as they grew on the limestone hills, and the 

 orchid Dendrohium crumeniatum, which flowers simul- 

 taneously over a whole area, was observed on its flower- 

 ing day. Further north, near Setul, several Australian 

 types were discovered, the most remarkable being a 

 new species of Thysanotus, a liliaceous genas con- 

 fined to Australia except for one Philippine species. The 

 author concludes that the boundary between the Malayan 

 and Burmese flora is unusually distinct, and lies near the 

 town of Alorstar in Kedah. 



A PRELIMINARY study of the flora on different grass plots, 

 with the object of ascertaining whether a botanical 

 criterion of their value as pasture lands can be evolved, is 

 reported in the Scientific Bulletin (No. 2) of the Royal 

 .Agricultural College, Cirencester. A complete catalogue of 

 species was first compiled, and then the species were 

 arranged under the three groups of grasses, Leguminosae, 

 and general plants according to their relative abundance. 

 Data were thereby obtained for a comparison of the pro- 

 portion of valuable grasses and leguminous plants to the 

 less valuable and worthless species. Thus it was found 

 that where the bottom grasses were luxuriant only nine- 

 teen species in all were recorded, whereas the total number 

 of species exceeded fifty on the poor lands. Also 

 generalisations are deduced from the growth of allied 

 species ; thus Bromus crectus was strongest on the dry 

 oolitic soil, while Jlolcus lanatus predominated on wet 

 areas. 



In an interesting report on the " Barometer in Jamaica," 

 Mr. .Maxwell Hall di.scusses the determination of the 

 differences of height between pairs of stations in Jamaica 

 from meteorological observations, and he calculates certain 

 tables for use in the application to this problem of a form 

 of Laplace's formula slightly different from that usually 



